Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Acts 27
Verse Commentaries:
Chapter Level Commentary:
FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT THE PARAGRAPH LEVEL
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects. Compare your subject divisions with the five modern translations. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one main subject.
1. First paragraph
2. Second paragraph
3. Third paragraph
4. Etc.
CONTEXTUAL INSIGHTS
A. Luke had a vast knowledge, covering sailing (A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, vol. 3, p. 456, says Luke used nine compounds with pleô, to sail) as well as literature, medicine, history and theology. Here is a list of technical, nautical terms and phrases
1. sailed (cf. Act_13:4; Act_14:26; Act_20:15; Act_27:1)
2. under the shelter of (cf. Act_27:4; Act_27:7)
3. weighed anchor (cf. Act_27:13)
4. euraquilo (cf. Act_27:14)
5. face the wind (cf. Act_27:15)
6. running under the shelter of (cf. Act_27:16)
7. undergirding (cf. Act_27:17)
8. sea anchor (skeuos) (cf. Act_27:17
9. ship's tackle (skeuçn) (cf. Act_27:19)
10. soundings (cf. Act_27:28[twice])
11. athoms (cf. Act_27:28[twice])
12. four anchors from the stern (cf. Act_27:29; Act_27:40)
13. the ropes of the rudders (cf. Act_27:40)
14. hoisting the foresail to the wind (cf. Act_27:40)
15. tacking (MSS P74, à , A, cf. Act_28:13)
B. One older book that has been such a help to commentators is James Smith's The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul, 1848.
C. This trip to Rome was attempted at a dangerous time of the year for sailing (cf. Act_27:1; Act_27:4; Act_27:7; Act_27:9-10; Act_27:14). Usually November-February was the most dangerous time to travel, with a two to three week marginal period before and after. The regular grain shipments to Rome took ten to fourteen days, but because of the wind direction the return could take sixty days.
D. There are three different, possibly four, ships mentioned in this passage
1. a coastal ship which stopped at every port and hugged the coastline.
2. two Egyptian grain ships that ferried grain from Egypt to Italy
3. possibly a barge trip between Naples to a landing 43 miles south of Rome
It is interesting to follow Luke's account of this voyage on a map of the Mediterranean.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.
1. Luke's account of Paul's sailing to Rome has many nautical technical terms. What is the implication of this?
2. Why is Act_27:20 so theologically significant?